152 FEDERAL INDIA
would be complete responsible government.
The British Parliament cannot, even if it de-
sire, establish responsible government for the
whole of India, if only because the whole of
India is not under British sovereignty. It is,
therefore, obvious that in matters which affect
the states and British India in common, re-
sponsibility of the Central Government to
the electorate of British India only is impos-
sible. Our proposal provides parliamentary
government for British India in regard to ex-
clusively British Indian matters, and for matters
common to British India and the Indian States
a scheme of government in which these two
parties would unite in due proportion to ensure
equitable treatment of each consistently with
the advancement of the country as a whole.
14. The third of the guarantees referred to
above is that the states would require a Supreme
or Federal Court. Without such a judicial
authority to give effect to the provisions of the
constitution no guarantees, even if contained in
the constitution, would have any value. The
principle of judicial disallowance of legislation
is of the essence of federalism. The states
have suffered greatly in the past owing to the
absence of judicial machinery to settle the dis-